Issues with Setting Up the Summa DC4xs Printer on Colored Vinyl

[Bonlite]

Hello, I need help from the community. I purchased a used Summa DC4xs printer in excellent condition for a specific purpose—printing safety signs. For a month, I have been printing and cutting stickers, but only on white vinyl. Now, I want to print on colored vinyl.

1. On signal blue vinyl – printing only in white
2. On signal yellow vinyl – printing only in black
3. On signal green vinyl – printing only in white
4. On signal red vinyl – printing in both white and black

I am facing issues with correctly setting up the printer.

The Summa DC4xs manual does not provide clear instructions on this. I followed the guide for the Summa DC5 - Printing on Dark Colored Media. I started with blue vinyl. My vinyl has a non-standard width of 63 cm (24.8 inches), and the printer displays a message that the width has changed. I attached white vinyl on both edges of the blue vinyl. I changed the OptiTrac color to white, and the printer also notifies me that OptiTrac and media calibration need to be performed. However, when I start media calibration, the vinyl shifts, and I can't get it to work properly.

Then, without calibration, I sent a print job. The file included white-only printing, contour cutting, and through-cutting. The printer only performed contour and through-cutting but did not print.

What am I doing wrong?
I would appreciate guidance on the correct setup steps to accomplish this task.

Thank you in advance!

 

[FrankW]

There is a setting for the OptiTrac-Markers for printing them in a color like black with a white surrounding. As far as I remember, the DC4 has another kind of sensors than the DC5. Don´t remember where to set it, but perhaps you will find it in the manuals.

Do you print with Color Control? You need to assign white as a spot color in Color Control.

 

[Bonlite]

Thank you for your response and questions.

Yes, I am printing from Color Control. In the photo, you can see the Color Control configuration, where the printer only cut but did not print. I also don’t understand why Color Control displays black, even though there is no black color in the file.

In the photo, you can see the file I am sending for printing and cutting. The blue color on the left was added for better visualization in my example.

Question 2​

For some reason, the printer cuts twice along the same line for Flexi Cut.

In Summa Printer Control 1.13.0.0, there is an option to select OptiTrac Color - White and OptiTrac - AUTOMATIC. As you can see in the photo, I selected white for blue vinyl, but the printer failed to detect the marks.

I would appreciate your help with the settings so I can successfully complete this task.

 

[FrankW]

You should set the color space not to monochrome, and set White as a spot color (in the file too). Set OptiTrac to WHITE_BACKGROUND,